Whether you’re in the market for a new investment property or are looking for a home for yourself or your family, our experienced Purchasing team can help. We specialise in all kinds of properties, from residential and commercial investments to family homes.

While the ethos and process for each property type differ, you can rest assured that whatever path you choose, you’ll enjoy the benefit of our guidance, expertise, and unparalleled data and insight. You’ll also have us batting on your behalf, giving you the necessary competitive edge in a fierce real estate market.

Purchasing an investment property

Using data for market insights

The property market is one of the key pillars of the national economy. Therefore, one needs to examine the property market from a broad macroeconomic perspective, together with other important macroeconomic indicators including income, the job market, public investment and population growth.

When it comes to observing both market and economic conditions, we extensively research and analyse the Australian and global economies and their effect on the local property market. We closely track reputable think tanks like the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Australian Government agencies to gauge economic developments and potential market changes.

We also understand big data’s necessity for our business when it comes to planning, purchasing and renovating. So, we’ve developed an in-house tech capability that seeks to find, clean, and interpret volumes of data to complement the work of our various teams.

Finding the right property, in the right state, in the right region, in the right suburb, on the right street is no mean feat: a single property purchase can be impacted by numerous influences. Some of the key things we look for include planned and proposed infrastructure projects and investment, foreseeable gentrification, and evidence of historic performance. We investigate the multi-layered economic drivers that might influence a suburb’s long-term capital growth. We call on roughly 35 key indicators and have carefully set the thresholds to ensure the suburbs we select will provide long-term stable capital growth.

Want to know more? We published an article revealing more about Milk Chocolate’s love of ‘big data’ and how we use it to our advantage. Click here to read

Our property ethos

We approach every property purchase like the big match. Far from making moves based on gut feeling or a knee-jerk reaction, each prospective purchase is carefully strategised and scrutinised to ensure you come out as a winner.

When we go on the hunt for your new investment, we look for what we call a ‘Milk Chocolate property’. This means it boasts a few distinct hallmarks that truly make it a property worth pursuing. So, what makes a Milk Chocolate property?

Location – including an area’s capital growth potential, historic performance and future infrastructure plans, and undesirable factors like being situated on a main road or under a flight path
Character – older homes not only retain a lot of their original charm, but they’re also generally built to a higher-quality standard and tend to perform better from a resale perspective
Block size – this is where a property’s true value lies, but it also gives us more options if we advise a renovation, new build or subdivision
Quality – we look for a property that’s robustly built, and if it’s been renovated, that the construction is of impeccable quality

Depending on your investment goals, these attributes ensure the property will either command a strong rental yield or retain and increase its value, if and when we determine it’s time to sell.

We also like to actively look for properties where we can add value through smart construction. As long as it bears the main traits of a Milk Chocolate property, we can easily fix up some of the cosmetic or structural issues through renovation or building.

We can also increase the spec by adding extra floor space, bedrooms or bathrooms, or produce an additional structure such as an extension or granny flat. Not only will this turn your investment property into a real stunner, but it’ll also go a long way in optimising rental yield and adding value for a future sale.

Plus, opting for a property that’s structurally sound, but only needs cosmetic work, means you’re not just purchasing a pretty face. Instead, most of your purchase budget is going towards the key real estate fundamentals – like location and build quality – that underpin the home’s long-term value.

Our difference

Thanks to our winning combination of real estate know-how, robust data collection tools and economic expertise, every property purchase is a carefully orchestrated operation.

Milk Chocolate has the benefit of having in-house property experts, economists and data scientists who combine their talents to thoroughly inform each of our purchases. Once we’ve ascertained your budget, requirements and financial goals, our teams get to work locating the best investment property to suit your criteria.

Our data scientists are responsible for sourcing and collating huge volumes of robust data on everything from a suburb’s historical sales performance to the factors that make an area worth buying into. Depending on the objective of your investment purchase – be it capital growth or a strong rental yield – we assess exactly where in Australia you’re best putting your money to achieve your property goals.

Next, our economists analyse the data and work closely with our Purchasing team to ensure we can locate the very best investment property to suit your current financial situation and future goals. If we decide an investment property is a worthy addition to your portfolio, our Purchasing team then enters the buying phase. Thanks to our buyer’s agent expertise, you’ll be in an enviably competitive position when it comes time to purchase – even in a hot market.

The beauty of having all of these capabilities in-house is that you don’t need to go anywhere else. From figuring out the best region to invest in Australia, to narrowing down your purchase to a single property, we can do it all.

The investment property purchasing process

Part 1—Onboarding with Milk Chocolate

Sign our Purchase Agreement.
Pay the Initial Purchase Fee.
Complete the ‘Better Insights’ questionnaire to provide us with information on your current situation, any existing properties, investment goals and family home preferences.
For more details, check out our Getting started page.

Part 2—Find the perfect property

The search commences when we confirm the brief.
Your search tracker is activated and we start adding properties for you to check out.
Review and approve Stage 1 research for our recommended property.
Review and approve Stage 2 research including the maximum offer, strategy and purchase advice for the chosen property.
Tune in to updates on our negotiations.
Offer accepted, purchase property and agree to terms.

Part 3—Exchange and settle

Contract signed and exchanged conditionally.
Pay 0.25% deposit to the selling agent.
Review and approve final due diligence and reports.
Review contracts and exchange unconditionally.
Pay the remaining deposit to the selling agent.
Pay the Stage 2 MC fee.
Settlement.
Pay the Stage 3 MC fee.

Purchasing your family home

Our ethos

Whether you’re a family of one, a family of 10 or somewhere in between, we’re confident we can find the home of your dreams.

We know that a family home isn’t just a straightforward property transaction; it’s your new place to live, work and nest. With this in mind, we approach family home purchases with a clear goal: to locate a new abode that ticks every single one of your boxes.

You might be after a mid-century masterpiece in the middle of the city. Or, you may prefer a classic character home in a regional centre. You could want two bedrooms, four bedrooms, or 15. Or a home with two kitchens and a pool. Maybe you want to be close to work, or to the very best schools in the city. Or, perhaps you’d like to be down the road from the in-laws or near a bustling commercial strip.

Whatever your preferences, our first step is to understand your needs in great detail and then get to work finding a home to suit.

Our difference

Our Purchasing team is driven by robust data, statistics and research. Once we know where you’d like to live, we undertake an in-depth research exercise to gauge the area’s advantages, disadvantages and property offerings.

You don’t even have to be fixed to a particular area, city or region; depending on your and your family’s needs, we can lean on our bespoke location-matching tool. Based on your preferences, our tool can suggest the right suburbs to meet your requirements.

We then get to work looking for the best house on the best street. Our Purchasing team works closely with our in-house data scientists and economists to scout out a home that meets your location requirements, spatial needs, preferred aesthetic and budget. Once it comes time to try and secure the property, our Purchasing team helps put you in a competitive position thanks to our buyer’s agent expertise – even in a hot market.

If we find a near-perfect home that could do with a bit of a facelift – or you simply want to add a new feature, like a granny flat – we engage our Construction team to undertake a cosmetic or structural renovation or build.

The end result? The perfect home that’ll serve you and your family for years to come.

Our family home purchasing process